First Half of Year Wettest on Record for Texas

"Texas" and "wettest" are two words you probably wouldn't often see placed next to each other in the same sentence. That may be about to change: according to the National Weather Service, the first seven months of the year were the wettest on record in Texas, snapping a decade-long drought run. The statewide average rainfall was 27.11 inches, almost 11 inches above the norm of 16.21 inches. The previous record was set in 1941 with 25.88 inches.

In addition to being the wettest since 1903, this July was also the coldest since 1976 and the fourth coldest in 113 years. With a La Nina event beginning to take shape, meteorologists predict conditions might soon become drier again. Troy Kimmel, a professor at the University of Texas, is coordinating a group of volunteer weather observers — known as the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Networks — that measures and maps precipitation in urban and rural areas in 19 states. They hope that the recent wave of extreme weather events will stimulate more interest in the group's activities and prompt more individuals to enter information on their website.